Student recruitment Isn’t Just About The Big Target

When I work with admissions, marketing, and sales leaders in schools and agencies, I see two types of teams:

1️⃣ The ones with a revenue or enrolment target but no clear idea of how they’ll get there. It's usually on a white board somewhere, often underlined in red how far behind target they are.
2️⃣ The ones with no targets at all—just an expectation to ‘get more students.’ Or, they have no clue what that target is.

Both can be demotivating. If your only goal is “enrol X more students,” it can feel like an uphill struggle—especially when you’re squeezing the same sources over and over.

The secret? Action targets. These are the daily and weekly tasks that actually fill the pipeline, progress enquiries, and get students over the line.

These can be especially helpful when you're miiiiiiles away from the target. Focusing on the next step, not the final destination is the way to make progress.

I have some ideas on alternative targets for you. Your boss/bursar/owner may not care - they just want the revenue target to be hit - but meanwhile YOU need to get there - so let's get you excited again!

But—and this is important—you don’t need to focus on all of these at once. That’s just overwhelming, and there's plenty of overwhelm already. Instead, pick one focus area every week or fortnight. Turn it into a mini project for your team, change it up regularly, and make it fun. Gamify it if possible. As the leader of the team (or yourself) it's important for you to keep morale up and keep them moving forward towards the target your boss wants.

So, what’s your focus for the next two weeks? Here are a few ideas for you👇

1. The ‘Pipeline Power-Up’ Project

If your pipeline looks empty, you’ll struggle with enrolments later. This project is about getting more engaged leads into play.

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ Increase active pipeline enquiries by X% from new sources
✅ Revisit past leads – Set a ‘Resurrection Challenge’ to reactivate old enquiries

👉 Make it fun: Who can reactivate the most leads in a month? Add a small prize or just bragging rights for the ‘Pipeline Resurrector of the Month.’

2. The ‘Fastest Follow-Up’ Challenge

Speed matters. Families move on. Agents place students elsewhere. Be the fastest.

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ Respond to all new enquiries within X hours
✅ Calls every new enquirer within 30 minutes
✅ No enquiry left untouched for more than X days

👉 Make it fun: Track response times as a team—who’s the fastest responder this week? Who had the most productive follow-up call?

3. The ‘Offer-to-Acceptance Makeover’

You’re making offers, but are they turning into enrolments? This project tweaks how you present offers, follow up, and handle objections.

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ Increase offer-to-acceptance rate by X%
✅ Follow up X times per offer (don’t stop too soon!)
✅ Use X personalised follow-ups per offer include calls

👉 Make it fun: Each team member gets three ‘Wildcard Follow-Ups’—creative ways to reach out to fence-sitters (voice notes, handwritten notes, video messages). Who converts the most?

4. The ‘Speed Up Decisions’ Sprint

If families or agents are taking too long to decide, you’re losing them. This project is about removing hesitation, but being reassuring. It is NOT pushy (it's the way you do it..)

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ Reduce average enquiry-to-decision time
✅ Make X ‘deadline reminder’ calls per week
✅ Keep the number of ‘pending’ offers under X%

👉 Make it fun: Introduce a Fastest Conversion Leaderboard—who moved a lead from enquiry to confirmed enrolment the quickest?

5. The ‘Open Day Conversion Boost’

Open Days are great, but only if they lead to actual enrolments.

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ Increase registrations for Open Days
✅ Increase the number that actually turn up
✅ Track how many signed up on the day
✅ Measure how many booked a follow-up tour or call
✅ Follow up with every attendee within X days and at least X times

👉 Make it fun: Turn it into a team leaderboard—who booked the most follow-up calls after an Open Day? Who turned the most Open Day attendees into enrolments?

6. The ‘Referral Hustle’

Referrals cost nothing and convert faster. But only if you ask. Statistics show that 91% of people would give a referral, but only 11% ask for them.

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ Ask for X referrals per month
✅ Tweak the method of asking for referrals
✅ Secure X more visits, tours, enquiries from referred families

👉 Make it fun: Create a Referrals Bingo Card—who can tick off asking a past parent, an agent, a current student, and an alumni this month?

7. The ‘Agent Revival’ Mission

Agents don’t just send students because you exist—you need to stay on their radar. Visibility is absolutely key (I spoke to an agent today that included a school in her quote that day as they popped up in a magazine she'd been flipping through - she'd forgotten them!).

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ Onboard X new dormant agents
✅ Check in with X existing agents
✅ Re-engage inactive agents and get X of them sending students again

👉 Make it fun: Try an Agent Reactivation Challenge—who can bring an old agent back into the mix this month and get them to market you?

8. The ‘Sales Habits Supercharge’

Enrolments don’t happen because you set a goal. They happen because you work the process.

🎯 Your focus for the next two weeks:
✅ X outbound sales calls per day
✅ X personal WhatsApps or voice notes to engaged leads
✅ Pipeline check-in – no ‘forgotten’ enquiries
✅ Reaching out to quiet leads before they go cold
✅ Blocking time for outbound sales activity—no excuses

👉 Make it fun: Introduce ‘Power Hours’—one hour where the whole team focuses on one task (calls, follow-ups, reactivations). Who gets the most traction?

The Takeaway: Pick One, Nail It, Then Move On

If your team tries to do all of this at once, they’ll get nowhere. Pick one project, go all in for a couple of weeks, and see what shifts. Then, move on to the next.

Motivation stays high when teams have small wins, real-time feedback, and fun challenges to keep them engaged.

🎯 Make progress visible – Who’s hitting their action targets?
🎯 Celebrate consistency – The habits, not just the final result.
🎯 Switch things up – If something’s not working, adjust.

Because at the end of the day, the schools and agencies that win aren’t just tracking enrolments. They’re tracking what actually makes them happen.

Need help making this work for your team? Let’s chat.